And bancroft



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- Patented Oct. 29, 1895.

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-DUPLIGATE WRIST Box.

10.548,740. Patented ont. J29, 1895.

fluff ANDREW B.GR^HAM. PHOTU-LITHQWASMINGTUNJLC.

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LAWRENCE F. BRAINE, OF RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, AND BANCROFT G. BRAINE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

DUPLICATE-WHIST BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 548,740, dated October 29, 1895.`

Appiicaion fuea January 3, 1395. seria No. 533,714. (No modem To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that we, LAWRENCE F. BRAINE, residing at Ridgewood, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, and BANCROFT G. BRAINE, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements'in Duplicate-Whist Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to an improvement in whist-boxes, and more particularly to boxes adapted to hold several packs or decks of cards separated in a particularnanner for playing the game of cards commonly known and referred to as duplicate whist, the object of our invention being to provide a box or receptacle of this kind or character which shall be simple in construction, cheap to manufacture, and which shall insure the proper separation of the cards during the entire game.

The further object is to so construct a box for this purpose that the players may, at a glance, ascertain the respective place or compartment in which to insert the cards or hands played by them during the original game, and by the movement of an indicator to at once ascertain the compartments from which to take the cards to play the duplicate game, th us obviating all danger of mistake in the distribution and selection of the several hands.

A further object of our invention is to provide means whereby the suit to which the' trump-card belongs and the denomination of said trump may be registered opposite the cards forming the respective hand.

With these and other ends in view our invention consists in certain novel features ofconstruction and combinations of parts, ask

willbehereinafterfullydescribed,andpointed out in the claims. Y

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of our improved box, the` lid being open, several of the compartments being indicator shown in Fig. 1. Fig.5 is a plan view of a modified form of the box. Fig.' 6 is a sectional view thereof taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are views of a modified form of indicator. Figs. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 are views of modifications.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a box of proper shape and size, and constructed of metal, wood, cardboard, celluloid, or other suitable material, and has hinged or secured thereto a cover or lid B, said box, if desired, being coated or covered on its exterior surface with paint, japan, leather,or other substance. v

Running across the box and about the center thereof is a rod or bar f, upon which are mounted partitions C, preferably made of sheet metal, the ends of said partitions being left free, as indicated in. the several figures of the drawings, and separated from each other by means of the spacing-disks g, each of the several compartments formed by these partitions being of sufticient width to contain one hand or thirteen cards.

It will be readily understood that the above arrangement allows the cards to be easily and readily inserted or withdrawn from the compartments, the partitions being to a certain extent iexible and capable of being vseparated at their ends, as indicated at h, Fig. 1, of the drawings.

In order to separate the several decks or packs of cards from each other, we construct every fourth partition slightly higher than the remaining three, as indicated at t' in Figs. 3 and 12 of the drawings.

Across the box and above the rodf is located a rod or bar lc, the ends passing through the verticalside of the plates e, the upper end of the latter being bent over against the sides of the box and the lower end or edge resting on the bottom of the box. The ends of the rod k are bent at right angles toits length below the plates e. Upon the shaft or rod lo is mounted an indicator D, adapted to revolve or turn thereon, the centers of the upper or tops edges of the partition C- being cut away, as indicated at Z, Figs. 2 and 11,'to allow of such revolution. One surface or face of this revolving indicator is lettered and numbered, as indicated in Fig. 4, for the origicards.

nal play and the opposite side or face lettered or numbered, as indicated in Fig. 1, for the duplicate play-that is, in both instances, opposite every four compartments is a figure to indicate the number of the pack or deck of cards, or, in other words, the vnumber ot' the hand. vEach compartment isaV letter indicate ing the player or person to whom the cards in the respective compartment belongs.

In starting the game it is usual to first-deal.

a deck or pack of cards in the regular Way. At'ter the tirst hand has been played the person in the original game sitting4 at thenorth end of thetable will pla'ce'his'hand, consisting of the thirteen cardsin the'i-rst compartment, opposite which is the letter N,'-as

the compartments as indicated `.by the-sev` eral lettersl on` the `face of the indicator, and so on until all the=hands 'have-beendealtand all thehands Ahave been-played. -The indicator `Dwill then be reversed,fas shown in Fig. l, and the duplicate game started, each .player extracting -or withdrawing lthe cards from the compartments in accordancewith his.r position lat the.- tableand in laccordance with the 'letters as-arrangedon the indicatorefor ins-tance, -in the originalgarneit ywas sho-wnl that `the person sitting at thel'no-rth endfof the table placed hiscardsinv the` vii'rst compartment .after playing the-'hand Y Intheduplicate it--will be seen that iE, or east,-.ta,kes his cards for the duplicateyplay from the first compartment, or, lin other Words,` the-original north becomes .in the duplicate east,-theorigi nal east becomes in the duplicate-West, and 4the original West; becomes A 'in` the duplicate north, and `so on through/the 'enti-re' number of packs ordeckslof cards,- this reversal ofthe indicator at all timesinsuringythe, proper distribution and selection ot the hands without in y'any1-way disturbing the-cards after 'once being insertedv after the vforginalplay.

At either end 'of the -boxis'formeda, compartment a by means lofy the ends ofthe -boX proper and the verticalsplates lb band top plates'd d,arran ged as shown-in Fig.2. Across these com partments `are.-arianged the jdisks lm n, mounted on bars-orspind-les-mthe Ifor-` 'mer beingK -provided with` characters indicating or denoting the four suits andthe-latter bearing the denominationjof thesuitsas, for instance, A for ace, -K for king, Q for queen, J for jack, 2, 3, 4,5,1and-so on. -These disks :are arranged in pairs, Vupon the spindles, .as shown inthevseveralgu-resof thefdrawi-ngs,

/each pair `of 'disks falling-oppositeevery fourth compartment or oppositeeach deck of The top plates dd of each-of the compartments a have openings r therein,.allowing said disks to slightly protrude through the same, by Vmeans of which arrangement it is possible to turn or revolve said disks as desired. It will be understood from this arrangement and combination of parts that after each rpackordeck ot' cards has been dealt during the' original play the trump-card may be registered opposite the proper compartments or spaces containing the respective deck, the suit-to whichn the trump-card belongs being shownbyv one disk and the denomination of said trump-card on the adjacent disk. For instance, as shown in Fig. l, after the first deck or pack of cards has been dealt and 4played-andsaid cards inserted in their proper compartments, the ace of hearts having been the trump-card, the'disk4 m is revolved until the-suit of heartsregisters `with the opening in the top plate d andthe disk `n is revolved 'until theface'or characterdenoting lthe ace is registered,lthereby-showing Vthat the ace otl 'hearts-was Vthe, trump-card for the original play for Asaid vti-rst deck and remains 4the tru'mpfcard torvthe'd'u'plicate play, and so on with the other twelve hands, or the number of hands to be played. It Will,of course, be understood that the trump-card is yso registered for each of the remaining decks.

p While We haveshoWn -inf the drawings in yl`igs.v1aud 2 AauboX or receptaclearrangedto -holdtwe'lvepacks ordecks-of cards, it will ,be understood,.ot-course,I that lche ybox may -belzarrangedior constructed-1 to hold'a greater or lesser numbeu-as desired. Other changes will also occur to those skilled .in the art-fas, for instance, instead of constructing a box to heidi-he cards "on-both vsides ot the indicator, or, in other Words, mount-ing thepartitionson la rod running through or across the center of the box, thesepartiti-ons mayffbemounted at one'endyasshown 1in' Fig. 5 otr the drawings,

the trurnpeindicatorbeing arranged .at one side ot the boxand the revolving indicator-at theoppositeside. `-Again, instead of -having the indicator to revolve, as before described, it'mayfbegarranged to slide horizontally,as shown inFigs. 7, 8, andj 9 of the draw-ings.

`This fmay .y `loe accomplished by slitting the metalplate p, arranged at one sideof thebox, andstriking the metal upwardly, as shown/in Fig.Y 9. -On the platep and under the bends p slides the strip or indicator p2, lettered as show-n, theends lof saidistrip or indicator `being turned upwardly to prevent it being lpulled entirely -out of Ithe loops or-bends. yIn theorigfinal play the strip or indicatorl p'will `be lowered or pulled 'downwardly as Yfar as ypossi-Masas indicatedl in Fig.Y 7. Before the duplicate playis-started the-stripor indicator ip is 4pushed in theopposite direction until the bends or loops cover up certain of the `letters on the strpiandv .the letter 'E registers with the compartment voriginally-.having the letter Nopposite thesame, the letter S opposite the original E ,'t-heletter W oppovsite the original S. and soony throughout the entire ldevi'ce. fAgaiminsteadof having IOO IIO

two faces or sides to the indicator, as originally described, it might be constructed with three sidesin a form of a triangle, as shown in Fig. 11, the three faces of the revolving indicator being numbered and lettered as shown in Figs. 10, 13, and 14. This arrangement, it will be understood, allows of a still further change in the selection of the cards after the original game has been played, for in'playing the duplicate game the indicator may be turned so as to indicate first the duplicate play and then the reverse duplicate play, then back to the duplicate play, and then again the reverse duplicate play, and so on, the indicator being revolved back and forth after each hand is played during the duplicate game, the star on the faces of the indicator denoting the person who should deal. Again, instead of providing the device with the trump-indicator, consisting of the several revolving disks, as described, the compartments d and such indicator might be discarded entirely; or again, a separate partition might be used, as shown in Figs. 10, 11, 12, and 15, between which and the adjacent partition the trump-card for each deck might be inserted, thus keeping said trump-card separate from the other cards for each hand or pack dealt.

As other changes might also be made in the` construction and arrangement of the several parts, we would have it understood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise construction and arrangement of details shown and described; but,

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A box or receptacle for holding several packs or decks of cards for playing the game of duplicate Whist, constructed with partitions, dividing said parts into several compartments, and having a movable indicator therein showing the compartments into which to place the cards during the original play while in one position, and the compartments from which to withdraw the cards during the duplicate play, While in the other position, substantially as described.

2. A boX for holding cards for playing the game of duplicate whist, constructed of several partitions, having their ends free, and a movable indicator located within said boX, showing the compartments into which to place the cards during the original play, while in one position, and the compartments from which to withdraw the cards during the duplicate play while in the other position, substantially as described.

3. A boX or receptacle for holding cards for playing the game of duplicate whist, constructed with several compartments, a movable indicator located therein for showing the compartments into which to place the cards during the original play, while in one position, and the compartments from which to withdraw the cards during the duplicate play while in the other position, and a trump indicator arranged opposite every four compartments, substantially as described.

4. A box or receptacle for holding cards for playing the game. of duplicate whist con structed with several compartments, and a reversible indicator mounted on a bar or rod, extending across said box and opposite said compartments, said indicator having faces thereon bearing numbers to indicate the number of the hand or game, and also letters or characters to denote or indicate the compartments into or from which each respective player is to place or withdraw his cards, substantially as described.

5. A box or receptacle formed with several` LAWRENCE F. BRAINE. BANCIROFT G. BRAINE.

Witnesses:

GEORGE Cook, F. S. KENNEDY. 

